Pokemon: brothers in battle
by AssassiNATE
Summary: What happens when war breaks out in Kanto? Mercenaries with their Pokemon from all over join the fight. Will Pokemon continue to be used as tools of war or will they finally be recognized as companions and friends?
1. Chapter 1

Breath in. Hold it. Let it out slowly. He was nervous. He had the right to be. It is not every day that you take your first step to becoming an assassin. There are even few days where new assassins were assigned to kill major political figures. Breath in.

He was in a tree in the woods. He had a clear view of the path he knew his target would be walking along any second now. Breath out.

He heard a rustle from a bush. Finally, his moment had come.

He drew back his arrow and calmed himself.

Did he really want to do what would come next?

"Yes," he thought. "Finally I will be able to avenge my brother."

Then as he though about it he realized he was avenging many. He was not killing in cold blood for himself, but for others. He was a vigilantly at worst. No. He actions would save many lives and prevent war. He was no common self-appointed law official, but a true hero, one that would do his brother proud.

With his confidence reaffirmed, he pulled the arrow the rest of the way back.

Any second now. He senses were on overdrive. He counted down the seconds. Three. Two. One and. . .

"Butteryfree!"

"No," he yelled in frustration. "Scum," he said bitterly and shot the retched bug Pokemon in the head.

He got another arrow ready instinctively. Lucky for him too because just then his target walked around the bend.

"What's this," he said with compassion. He crouched down to try to ease the pain of the suffering Pokemon.

"Just my luck," said the future killer. His target was a mire 50 feet away, head completely exposed. He took one last second to aim then let the arrow. It was a perfect shot. Death was inevitable.

Just then something black darted out of the trees.

"Snee," yelled the Pokemon as it jumped and slashed the arrow in half.

"Now, iceshard," came an unknown voice.

The dark type sent chunks of ice like arrows at the would be assassin. Needless to say he made a loud thud as he hit the ground.

He did not stay down for long. He stud up, drew his sword, and charged at his new opponent.

"Let's end this, icywind," said the trainer, emerging at last.

The Sneezel sucked in a big breath and then released a mini-blizzard at the assassin. He was unaffected by the attack, but his feet were frozen to the ground.

"I almost feel sorry for you kid," said the trainer as he advanced with his sword drawn. "Oh well, you've made you choice," making his first attack against the teen.

The young man managed to parry the first blow and the second, but that is the only success he had in the fight. After a few seconds, there came the clank of a sword hitting the ground, shortly followed by a thud.

The the trainer walked back to his employer, Sneezel by his side.

"Good work mercenary," he paused. "Such a waste of life, he was so young." He stood up and looked down on the dead Butterfree. "Pokehaters, I will never under stand them."

"Be glad he was one," replied the mercenary. "His first shot gave him away."

"I know, but is my life really worth more than two?"

"These were not the first casualties, and they will not be the last."

"I know. I know. . ."

So end of the first chapter. The main story will begin the the next chapter a few years earlier. The story will take place before the invention of pokeballs during the war in Kanto. The combat will be mostly mediaeval with big guns like hyper beam cannons here and there.

I'm not going to write a story for no one so if you want the next chapter right a review giving your thoughts and what Pokemon you want the main character's best friend to be. If I get over five reviews I'll even edit this first chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

**Aquila: I had to complete change the character to put in Gastly, but I love it. Thanks for being my first review**

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, I only own the human charters

Chapter 2

Six years earlier outside a village near the base of Mt Silver two boys waited.

"Why aren't they back yet?!" complained a young Luke. "They were supposed to be back yesterday"

"Calm down," said an older Blake. "They said about three weeks. They went nearly a hundred miles away. Even with a ten mile pace that only leaves a day to rest in between. That doesn't even include time to fight off the bandits."

"My dad could do it. . ."

The two boys were waiting on the top of a hill watching where the road emerged from the forest. Twenty-two days earlier Luke's mother and father along with Blake's brother had gone off on a job to deal with some bandits. As Luke's parents were seasoned mercenaries there was little fear in there safe return. But Luke was only ten and still got uneasy when his parents were gone for extended periods of time.

Blake was fourteen. His brother was all the family he had left. His parents were killed nearly eight years ago. His brother was training to be a city guard at the time but when he saw their effectiveness against everyday bandits he become disenchanted with the line of work and became a mercenary.

The devastating loss left Blake scarred. While he had not cried himself to sleep in years he did not completely recover. At times he seemed emotion less even cruel. He was not all bad through. He managed to put up with a crazy ten year old. Mostly.

It was midday. Luke sat against the trunk of a large tree at the top of the hill. Blake was perch in the tree above him. The weather was nice and warm. There was even a gentle breeze.

"Possibly," said Blake. "It would not take much to delay him. Anything from tripping on a basic root to taking a blade through the gut would extend their time of returning."

Luke angrily stood up. "That is my dad you're talking about," he shouted. "They don't call him the Aggron Knight for nothing."

Luke took a few steps towards the forest. "Just come back soon," he said quietly.

Blake landed on the ground as quiet as a ghost. He walked silently up behind Luke.

"No one survives a well place knife in the back," said the older boy.

"That's it!" screamed the little boy furious. He unsheathed his precious wooden sword and swung it at Blake.

This was the reaction Blake was going for. He let his knife slide down his sleeve and into his hand. He rested the flat of the blade against his wrist. Then, like how his assassin teacher had drilled him so many times, he swung his arm to intercept the attack.

The two boys' weapons locked and they competed in a test of strength. Blake was much stronger than Luke and could easily hold him even with the advantaged in leverage.

Blake yawned. Then, with lightning speed, grabbed Luke's wrist and squeezed. Luke was forced to drop his sword. Blake took advantage of the opening and darted forward, placing his knife against Luke's throat.

Luke flinched as he felt the cold metal against his skin.

"I'm gana do it," said Blake.

"No-oo-oo," sputtered Luke.

"I'm gana do it," Blake repeated.

At this point Luke started to freak out.

"Oh would you just shut up," said Blake as he slid his knife across Luke's neck.

Luke screamed and fell to his knees. He clutched his throat and felt something sticky. He screamed again. After a few seconds he started to hear laughing. He moved his hands. They were...pink?

He looked at Blake who was rolling on the ground with laughter. After a few more seconds he sat up and wiped a tear from his eye. He held up his dripping knife and licked it.

"Pecha berry," he said and started laughing again.

"You suck," said Luke matter-of-factly, "soooooooo much. You know, most people would not joke about death like that."

"This is what happens when you live in a haunted house."

Many people thought that Blake lived in a haunted house. Luke knew better. It was no chance there it was haunted. It was undoubtedly haunted. But only by one ghost, or rather ghost type Pokémon.

Blake's Gastly had started to follow him around about four years prior. There could not have been a more perfect match for the two. Because Blake was training to be an assassin and his back ground, ghosts were a part of his life. He had dark black hair and light blue eyes. You could rarely see him without his signature gray assassin cloak. He was rather slim, but fast. His sneaking and lock picking skills were so keen that some people thought that he could walk through wall like his Gastly.

Blake had named his Gastly Geist. Where Blake was usually serious, Geist was a major practical jokester. His favorite prank was to go partially through peoples' walls so only his eyes would be seen and then stare till some one noticed and freaked out.

Luke had a head full of messy brown hair and green eyes. He was a normal build and carried the wooden sword that his father made for him everywhere. His dream was to be a famous mercenary like his dad. He shared his mother's green eyes and height, but he tried to be just like his dad in any way.

The two boys went back to waiting. Then, at around noon, the boys' family stated to return.

Blake's brother, Zane, was the first to appear. He was running at full speed towards base camp. He was young and full of energy, as teens sometimes are. He was also the best cook of all the mercenaries and was known to make large meals when anyone came back from a job. Unlike his younger brother, Zane was laid back and fun-loving. He looked similar to his brother only older. His eyes were a bit darker and he had some stubble on his chin, but the family resemblance was clear to everyone.

Blake stood up and waved at his brother and Zane returned a two finger salute as he continued to run to the mess hall.

A few minutes after Zane came made it back, Luke's mom was next. Jo walked confidently, head held up and green eyes bright as she saw her son. Her long dirty blond hair was out and she wore shining crimson armor. She changed her path to go up the hill. Walking beside her was her ever vigilant Pokémon companion Leo the Growlithe.

"Mommy," exclaimed Luke happily as he embraced his mother. He then took a knee and held out his arms to Leo who happily accepted the invitation. The small dog like Pokémon tackled the little boy and started to lick his face.

"I love you too, boy," Luke giggled.

Just then, Luke's dad lumbered out of the forest in full Aggron-iron armor. Luke pushed Leo off him and ran to his father.

"Daddy," he squealed in delight as he jumped into his arms.

Duke held is son for a while. The boy might have had his mother's eyes, but they shares the same messy brown hair.

Duke was a big man, towering at six five. He even dwarfed his five nine wife. Legend had it that the smith that made him his black armor did not have enough material so Duke Singlehandedly took down an Aggron earning himself his tittle and signature look.

After a while Luke noticed three others standing behind his dad. One was a woman and the other was girl a round his own age. Both had bright red hair. The third was a small blue Pokémon with a long nose and three red spots on its back.

"Who are you?" Luke asked bluntly.

"Oh," said the woman, "you must be Luke. I'm Annie and this is my daughter Lindy."

"I've never seen a Pokémon like that before," said Luke. "Is he yours?"

Both Lindy and Luanda started to giggle.

"No silly," said Lindy, "Flash is mine."

Luke took a knee in front Flash to examine the Pokémon. After he took a good look he started to poke Flash in the belly.

"Why do you call him Flash?" asked Luke.

"Quil!" Flash responded. Flames started to shoot from his back. Luke was so surprised that he jumped back.

"That's why," said Lindy giggling.

Then, Luke took a good look at Lindy. She had two fluffy pigtails stick out of the side of her head. Her brown eyes were bright and happy. She was wearing a steal breastplate with a blue under shirt. Scanning down farther Luke saw a rapier strapped to her waist.

He looked down at his own simple wooden sword. He was begun to feel jealousy and rage. Not only did Lindy have her own Pokémon, she also had a real sword, too.

Duke, seeing that his son was starting to get angry said, "Man I'm so hungry I could eat a Wailord. Luke, why don't you go ahead and help Zane with dinner?"

"Okay." And he was off.

Zane made quiet the feast for the return celebration. He made all sorts of berry based dishes. There were muffins, fruit salad, poffins, and more along with fresh bread, rice balls and apricron juice. Of course the best part was the main course. Luke was busy fishing the last few days so Zane had plenty of fish. His signature dish was Magikarp grilled in lemon sauce served with a side of butter to dip it in.

It was this dish alone that earned Zane his spot in the mercenary troop and not a soul questioned the decision to let a 12 year old in. Then when it was learned that he could also make pecha berry cobbler, Zane was never short on friends again.

There were many tables in the dining hall. It was fairly large, able to seat over three hundred so it was rarely crowded. Battle trophies adorned the walls. There were all manner of weapons and pieces of armor. The dining hall was old and full of stories just like the troop.

Duke was the leader of the troop. He and his family along with Zane, Blake, and his two guest sat at a table in the middle of the hall.

The occupants of the table were a mess. There was enough grease on Luke's face alone to start a fire big enough to burn down the forest. Table manners were mostly ignored by all except Lindy and her mother. While everyone else made most of their food into their mouths, the two proper girls carefully cut everything they ate into bite sized chunks before using a fork to get it into their mouths.

Lindy did not touch her Magikarp at all. Luke was sitting across from her an eventually noticed she was not enjoying his prized catch.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "Don't tell me you don't like Zane's Magikarp."

"I don't eat Pokemon," came the reply.

"Why not"

"Because they are living creatures like me and you."

"So," he counted wondering how anyone could pass up on a good slice of meat.

"You wouldn't eat Leo would you?"

"Of course not."

"Then why would you eat any Pokemon?"

"Why would great god Arceus make so many water and normal type Pokemon if we weren't supposed to eat them?"

Lindy had no response for that. "I'm still not going to eat it," she said.

"More for me," said Zane as he reached over and stabbed his fork into the Magikarp flesh and dropped into onto his plate.

**I have six years of back story to cover but I plan to cover most of it in under 10 chapters. Most of it will be covering the little details like how as of now Pokemon are viewed similar to animals and pets. Lots of weapons and armor will be made of Pokemon related material but I won't go into that too much. **


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

"When are they leaving?" complained Luke.

"No need to be rude," answered his mother.

"Annie and I go way back," sad Duke. "She has saved my hide more than once. Do you want me to kick her out into the cold harsh world to be all by herself?"

"Yes," replied Luke.

"Luke," said Jo shocked.

"Fine," said Duke. "If it will make you happy."

"Duke!?" she said even more shocked.

"I'll tell her to pack up her bags and head back the the pile of ash that used to be her home. It's a long journey, but they will probably make it. You can't be sure with all the bandits around but they'll probably be fine. After all if it makes you happy it will worth it even if they die."

"Okay," said Luke happily. " I'm going to go tell them right now."

The little boy got up and raced towards the door. Duke face palmed and grabbed his son by the back of his shirt. He them proceeded to turn him around and look him straight in the eyes.

"Luke," he said, "they have been here for two days. What is the freaking problem?"

"Lindy keeps following me and bothering me," he yelled.

"Looks like someone has a fan," said his mom grinning.

"There is no problem with her looking up to you," said Duke. "You could even help her improve her fighting skills..." Duke paused and grinned devilishly, "unless she is better then you."

"She is not," yelled Luke defensively.

"Then I'm sure you two will be great friends someday," said Jo.

"Well it getting late," said Duke. " you should go to bed." Luke opened his mouth to protest, but he look from his mother convinced him other wise. He slow left the family room to go to his room.

"Hm," pondered Duke.

"What?"

"What if Lindy is better him."

"Then you better pray to Arceaus that he his a better loser than you."

"When was the the last time I ever lost a fight?"

"Oh please, I still hear tales of the fit you threw after the first time you lost to Russell."

Russell was the assassin master and childhood rival of Duke. They were good friends now but before they fought at almost every opportunity.

Duke's eyes grew wide. "Please Mew, don't let it be so."

The mercenary base had a basic lay out. There was only 3 main roads. Main Street was only about two miles long. On one side there were only mercenary relate buildings. At the far west side there was the main base/town hall. Next came the post office. The base was not a true town the those two buildings were useful none the less. Next came the black smith and the armory. Those were both rather big buildings. Next came the training field a half mile long field inclosed in a short wooden fence. On the side away from the road there was a few benches so people could watch others train and fight. Next came the jail. It wasn't used much but you never know. After that was the hospital. Again, an important building that saw much use over the years. And lastly was the Pokemon barn. Not many people stored there personal Pokemon there, but there was always a few Miltank, Tauros, and Doduo.

On the other side of the street there was all sorts of commercial buildings like the general store, market and dinning hall.

On either side of the training field there were two roads that ran north. Along these two roads were all the housing in there mercenary base. Every now and then a road would run between the two streets connecting them.

The morning after having a talk with his parents, Luke decided that he would try to be nice to Lindy and even train her.

They were standing at one end of the training field that morning. Lindy was very happy that not only was Luke willing to pay attention to her, but that he was going play with her as well. The first thing they decided to do was have a race to the far side of the field. Blake, who was also there, decided to watch the two of them train, as he had nothing better to do, and acted as started.

Blake lowered his hand and set them off. They two little kids ran as fast as they could to the other side. Luke managed to pull away, but he did not pase himself at all. About halfway across the field, he started to tire. Lindy was only about ten feet behind him and quickly passed him up. By the time she made it two the end Luke was over twenty feet behind her.

"You're ...fast," Luke huffed.

"Thanks," beamed Lindy also out of breath. "So are you ... If you ... didn't go ... all out in ... the beginning ... you might have won."

"Ya, probably," Luke agreed. "Let's walk back."

Next, the two tried sword play. Luke was sure that he would win at this. Lindy was hesitant to use her real sword against Luke's wooden one, but Luke arrogantly assured her that she would be lucky to even touch him once.

After putting on some basic protective gear, the two squared off about five feet apart. They stared each down for a few seconds till Luke made the first move.

He dashed forward, quickly closing the distance between him and Lindy. He the made and over hand swipe at her. Lindy saw the move well in advance and simply side stepped out of the way.

Luke spun on his heels and used the momentum to follow up with a strong back hand. Again Lindy easily dodged by stepping back.

The duel when on as such for a little. Luke would go all out in one attack and Lindy would step out of the way with ease.

"Come on," said Luke, "fight back!"

Lindy responded by making two quick swipes at him driving him back a step. Luke then retaliated with a quick lunge.

Lindy dodged by jumping back. The two then charged at each other with the most power you will ever see two ten year olds muster.

They ran past each other, swung their sword, then slid to a stop on the dusty ground.

They stood still for a few seconds. Then, half of Luke's sword fell to the ground. His eyes opened wide in pure horror as he looked at his now ruined possession.

"My... my SWORD!" he yelled, sorrow being exchanged with rage. He turned and threw the hilt as hard as he could at Lindy. She turned around right into it. The wood scored a direct hit to her head nocking it right open. Dazed, she did not see Luke charging at her till the last second.

She nimbly jumped right of the range of the arms trying to grab her. Full of fear, Lindy made a break for the fence. Luke chased after her.

Once she made it to the fence she stopped to catch her breath. She didn't notice that Luke was following her till she heard him right behind her. She made a split second decision to jump over the fence. Luke kept going and ran into a fence post. Unfortunate for him, the was a nail sticking out.

Luke ricocheted of the fence and fell strait on his back. There was silence, neither Lindy or Blake moved. Then Luke started to scream. Panicked, Blake and Lindy ran off in separate directions to find help.

Lindy ran towards the base. As she approached, she saw her mom as well as Luke's parents running towards her.

"Lindy," called out her mom," you're bleeding. Are you all ready?" She raised a hand to her forehead and brought it back red. For the first time she realized that she was injured.

"I'm okay but Luke is hurt." Everyone doubled their paise.

Luke was still screaming by the time they got back to him. Other mercenaries had started to gather around the training field.

Duke picked his son up out of the small pool of blood that started to form around him. Upon farther examination, he found a long deep gash following the bottom of Luke's jaw bone. The bleeding was not horrible, but it was not looking good. In some places, Luke's white bone was visible.

"Luke," said Duke looking into his son's eyes. The only response he got was Luke's blank stare as he continued to scream. Duke call his son's name again and again, but the father could not reach his son.

Then, Blake came running over, Geist trailing just behind his master. Next, he walked over to Luke and tried to get his attention. When that failed he called Geist over.

"I'm going to try to calm him," he told Duke. He then turned to Geist. "Hypnosis," he commanded. Geist floated over to Luke and looked right into his absentminded stare. Then his eyes started to glow bright red. Luke stopped screaming and slowly closed his eyes. With Luke stabilized, Duke rushed him to the hospital.

There was not much that Doctor Luck could do for Luke. He could not really get stitches and all the treatment there really was for him was to clean the wound and stop the bleeding. However, due to the lack of the antibacterial products and the dirtiness of the nail, the fight to prevent infection was quickly lost.

Two days later, Luke still had not awoken. Everyone was in the room when Doctor Luck came in. He called Duke into the hall and shut the door behind him. Lindy was sitting by the door so she was just able to hear what they were saying.

"Tell it to me strait, Luck," said Duke, "how is he doing."

"It could be worse," he answered. "If he wakes up soon he will be fine."

"My son is strong. It will take more than a simple infection to do him in."

"I have little doubt that the infection will not kill him. That, unfortunately is not the problem. The problem is him waking up."

"Did we make a bad call putting him to sleep?"

"No," replied Doctor Luck. "The sleep is actually helping him. It allows him to put all his energy into fighting the infection. But, he is not putting any energy into fighting off the forced sleep. So until he beats the infecting off, he will not wake up."

"I don't see the problem," said Duke.

"If he is not awake, he will not eat. With out nourishment to give him the energy he need to heal, he will starve to death." Lindy gasped silently at the news.

"How long does he have," asked Duke head down and little hope in his voice.

"He is able to eat soup and drink in his sleep. I give him one week easily, a month tops." He put his hand on Duke's shoulder. "I would say I'm sorry for you but I won't. I would give a normal child a fifty fifty chance."

"Not helping."

"Let me finish, this your son. If he is anywhere close to being as strong or stubborn as you, he will survive."

Two more days latter Luke was still sleeping. Lindy was starting to stress that Luke would never wake up. She didn't really know what happened to her village, but she knew that it was gone for good. She did not want the same thing to happen to Luke. She had heard that there were some specially Pokemon out there that had healing powers. She was determined to find one and save Luke. She had a way with the beasts so she thought that she would be safe if she were careful. Plus if things did go wrong she aways had Flash to protect her.

**Author's note. I could go a couple ways with battles right now. Instead of have tons of slaughter Pokemon littering the land I have decided to do something unique. When a Pokemon take damage from a move like say scratch, they will get cut open. However, they use their energy to mostly heal the wound. When they start to get low on energy they get the dizzy eyes and pass out to heal and regain energy. Status conditions can only be heal naturally by fainting. Also, a Pokemon can continue the fight when low on energy, but they won't be able to heal injuries and risk serious harm. Bones are hard to break but it can be done. Base stats for humans are high speed and special defense (but weak to fire) and low defense.**

**Also don't compare my distances to anything. They are all created for plot purposes. The Pokemon naturally found in an area will be any Pokemon from any gen that would live in that type of environment but I may add some here and there for story reasons**.

The eastern borders of the viridian forest just barely reached then northern end of mt silver. The mercenary base, which was called Black Knights, was only ten miles from the edge.

Lindy did not rush to the woods, she was smarter than that. She packed, but lightly. She had enough berries to last four meals, her sword, armor, and lots of water. Of course lashes had Flash as well. She did not tell anyone where she went except for Blake. That way no one would try to stop her, but if she were gone for a few days, someone could find her.

Dawn of the fifth day of Luke's sleep, she set off. The initial walk was uneventful. She saw a few pidgy in the sky, a rattata here and there, even a ponata. Nothing paid much attention to her, but that is how she wanted it. After four hours of walking, she could make out the forest poking up over the horizon. She quickened her paise and made it there in another hour.

Once inside the grasp of the trees, Lindy and Flash stopped to rest. This new environment was beautiful. The trees where tall and full of bright green leaves. The trees did not completely blocked out the sun so light was in scattered rays that managed to pierce through the canopy. This mad it darker, but there were was still plenty of light. The ground was covered in leaves and twigs. Stumps of ancient trees also dotted the terrain. Lindy and Flash sat on one to eat their lunch.

"Okay Flash, we are finally here. We haven't had any problems so far but I don't expect our luck to hold. Be on guard and ready to fight. They say that a flower Pokemon live here that can heal people and Pokemon but it is rare."

"Quil," he responded with determination.

"Okay then let's start."

Lindy took no more than ten steps before she encountered her first hostile Pokemon. A Caterpie lowered itself one a piece of string right in front of her. She was going to walk right past it, but the Pokemon would not let her. She didn't know what to do and drew her sword. Luckily for her, Flash did. He let out an ember right at the little bug. It fell to the ground and curled up into a ball ko'ed in one hit. Lindy congratulated Flash and they continued on their way. Larva Pokemon of all regions were plentiful but few could stand a single hit from a super effective fire attack. After the tenth or eleventh Pokemon was defeated, encounters went down to one every few minutes to three or four every hour, not that they were looking for trouble.

At around four the pair stopped to rest again. They had seen all sorts of bug Pokemon, but only the basic stage had yet to attack them. The smell of they berries Lindy packed soon changed that after their smell was released from being bit into. Some bushes nearby were rustling.

"Ready for some more, Flash?"

"Cynda," replied the Pokemon full of confidence after his many easily acquired victories. Then, out of the bushes popped out a new Pokemon. It called out its name as a battle call, Nidoran. It was pink; a male.

Flash followed the old routine and shot many small fire balls the the bunny like Pokemon, but this was a much more worthy foe than a wirmple. He jumped out of the way with ease. Flash was so cocky that he was surprised he missed. He did not have time to react as the pink Pokemon charged him. Taking damage, though not a lot, for the first time from a double kick attacked got Flash literally all fired up for the battle. His normally spotted back traded its red dots for a blazing fire.

"All fired up, Flash," asked Lindy. She drew her sword, "Me too. Tackle, let's go."

Flash ran at his opponent and rammed him as hard as he could with his shoulder. He managed to get under the Nidoran and scored some bonus damaged by flaring his flame right in his face.

The Nidoran sustained a burn on its head and lost some attack power as well as some hp. I countered with a horn attack. Flash took the attack without even flinching.

"He's too close to get away," said Lindy, "use ember full power."

Flash reached deep inside his belly for all the blazing energy he could find. He took in a deep breath then released the largest single fireball in his life right at the nearby Nidoran. The attack was a direct hit. There was so much power that the leaves he was standing one burst into flame. He squealed in pain for a few seconds before the flames died out. The charred Pokemon managed to take two steps till it collapsed to the ground.

"Way to go Flash," cheered Lindy. The little Pokemon jumped into her arms and she spun he around a few times. "Nothing in this forest can stand up to you."

"Quil," he agreed.

By this time it was starting to get dark and Lindy decided to make camp for the night. She gathered up some small sticks and a few logs and had Flash light her a fire. The blaze kept the timid bug and grass Pokemon away so Lindy could sleep safely.

Blaze curled up in a ball at her stomach and Lindy curled up around him and used his body heat to stay warm. Lindy closed her eyes and let her body sink into the leaves and into a deep sleep.

**If you like my story or have any ideas for what Pokemon I should add leave a review. If not make sure to follow my story to know when new chapters come out and so I can tell the difference between someone who read my story and someone who clicked on it. **


	4. Chapter 4

div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Ch 4/div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy woke to the sound of singing Pidgey, not the most charming sound ever, but at least she got an early start on the day. She sat up to stretch and let out a long yawn. Flash, who was not a morning Pokemon, attempted to fake sleep. Lindy saw no harm in giving him a few more minutes and started to prepared their breakfast. She finished all her berries before Flash so much as opened his eyes. She started to eat his share and that, of course, woke him right up. After eating, Lindy packed up her stuff and scattered her ashes. And with that, the two were off again. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"The first hour of the new day was quiet. The sun was not up yet and few Pokemon were awake. Those that were knew to fear Flash. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy smiled and looked down at here companion. "Today will be the day, I know it will be. If were lucky we will find the Pokemon soon and be back to Luke late tonight."/div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy was right, they would find the Pokemon soon. What she did not know was she was about to run into a giant spider web. Had she not been looking down, she would have avoided it, but she probably wouldn't have found what she was looking for either. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy walked right through the web. It broke so it got all over her. When she lifted her arms to get it off her face, she only made it worse. She struggled and struggled but the only thing she accomplished was tripping over a tree root. She started to grunt with effort when she heard a sound. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;""Dosssssss," it hissed. Lindy went silent when she realized what it was. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"She slowly turned around and saw it. A huge Ariados. It was over four feet long and stood nearly two feet off the ground. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"The Ariados slowly inched forwards hissing with delight. She had a great catch this morning and right before she went to bed too. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"With out needing to be told, Flash shot an ember attack at the Ariados. She caught fire for a second, but only a second. She inched closer and closer to Lindy completely unfazed. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Finally in front of Lindy the spider raised one if its legs to deal an ending blow. In a last resort effort to get free, Lindy commanded Flash to fire at her. Flash sucked in and let out a fire ball right at Lindy's head. It was just enough to incinerate the webs around her head. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"By this point, the Ariados had raised her leg as high as she could. The tip if her leg started to glow a bright toxic purple. Without farther delay, she attacked Lindy with her Poison Jab attack. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Just in the nick of time, Lindy drew her sword and parried the attack. They stood locked in a battle of strength for a moment, then Lindy was through back. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy Landed gently in a three point stance, but she still slid back a few more feet. She quickly charged back into the fight. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"The ariodose was not expecting any resistance and was not on guard. She just stood there as Lindy slashed her face three times with her sword. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"After ending with and uppercut, Lindy sprung back. The ariodose rubbed its face as the as the flesh slowly came back together. All that remained was three shallow scratches. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;""Quick," Lindy commanded, "use ember before she fully recovers."/div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Flash sent another fire ball right into the spider pokemon's face. Sadly, it did not do much damage, it only slight slightly singed her face. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Realizing that Flash was more of a threat, the bug Pokemon switched targets. She used a well aimed Spider Web attack. Flash had no time to dodge and was pinned to the ground. With the treat disabled, the Ariodose moved in for the kill. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Once again it slowly raised a leg above her head. This time her leg caught a shadowy fire as she prepared a Night Slash attack. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;""No," yelled Lindy. She ran in front of the Pokemon and raised her sword ready to defend. The Ariados attack Lindy once again, but this time she was ready. She blocked the leg closer to the body where it was venerable. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"The giant bug Pokemon recoiled as it felt the sharp bite of steel. She fled back a few steps and let her body take its natural course and seal the minor wound. As soon as the cut was nothing but a little scratch, she countered with another Spider Web attack. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy predicted this move and cut the web right I half before it reached her. Seeing an opening for her own attack, she charged forward and deliver another batch of face slashes to her opponent. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"But it was an attack she wished see withheld. The Ariados knocked her sword out of her hand and penned her to the ground the Ariodose reared back her head getting ready to unleash a lethal Leech Life attack. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Just at the last second, Flash broke free of his restraints and shot an Ember attack right at the Ariodose's head. The attack was still not very devastating, but it did have some damage behind it. The poison Pokemon unwisely sought revenge and attacked with a devastating Toxic, leaving Flash badly poisoned. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy was able to make use of Flash's sacrifice. She reached over to grab her sword and stabbed it strait up though the Ariodose's abdomen. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"She struggled to keep the blade in as the Pokemon above her thrashed about. The spider spewed out one final Toxic all over Lindy then rolled off her and curled up into a ball. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Flash sent a weak Ember attack at the fainted Pokemon. The leaves beneath her caught. Lindy scooped up Flash and walked away. Normally she would abject to such actions, but not for this bug. It was dangerous, brutally attacking a human (and probably countless Pokemon) and she felt no regret in letting the fire burn. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy took about twenty steps when her adrenaline wore off. She fell to one knee. Her faced burned and she could feel the poison slowly creep its way through her veins. The poison had already taken a huge toll on Flash. He was slightly shaking in Lindy's arms. His breath was coming out in short ragged breathes. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy started to panic. Then she knew what to do. She needed to find a Pecha berry tree. It was Flash's, as well as her, only hope. With no time to delay she dashed off deeper into the forest. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"After running for five minutes, Flash fainted. With her started lying like a lifeless rag doll in her arms, Lindy could feel the poison approach her heart. The pain in her chest was unbearable. She sat down against a stump and took a deep breath. Then she started to slum over. She closed her eyes and let herself pass out. The last thing she saw before she slipped away was a pair of red and blue roses. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy woke late the next morning. Flash woke her by nuzzling her face with his own. Flash's condition had greatly improved. You could see the light in his eyes and he barked happily. After fainting for a whole day, he restored almost all of his energy. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy was decent as well. Her face had a dull burn and it was sticky. She tried to wipe her face, but her hand came back purple. It was at this point that she noticed the third person in the clearing. He was a small grass Pokemon with flowers for hands. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;""Rose," he said walking forwards. He was very mild mannered as he approached, slowly but without hesitation. "Selia," he said and petals stated to peel of his hands and circle him. After a few seconds he was completely surrounded by spinning pink petal. Then all the petals blew away from and started to circle Lindy. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"The smell was wonderful. The petals might have well smelled like happiness. After about ten seconds the petals fluttered to the ground and shatters into shards of white light. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Lindy felt restored and stood up easily. The rose Pokemon motioned her to follow him and started to walk away. He had just helped Lindy so she and Flash had no hesitation to follow. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"He led then to a small river. Lindy squealed in delight and went right in. Once she got waists deep, she dunked herself underwater. A dark purple cloud formed around her and the river slowly pulled it way. Lindy washed herself clean of the dreaded poison and dirt of the forest. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"Finally clean, Lindy leaned backed and floated in the water. She let out and long sigh and let herself relaxed. After a few minutes she came out if the river. Flash helped her dry off with his fire as Lindy talked to the rose Pokemon. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;""Thank you," she said crouching down to his eye level. "You saved me."/div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;""Roselia," he responded bowing his head. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;""You know," Lindy continued, "I came to this forest looking for a Pokemon like you. My friend is very sick. If you don't help him, I'm afraid he might go away forever. You'll help him right?"/div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;""Rose," came the response. /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;""Oh good. Let's get going."/div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"And so the three set off home. They knew they had to be back as soon as possible so they did not delay a second longer. After all, every moment was a moment longer Luke stayed asleep as he inched closer and closer to sleeping forever./div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;" /div  
div style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"strongAuthor note: finally got around to chapter 4. This is the first Pokemon vs human battle I have ever wrote. Not all bosses will be killed but when ever they are it will be for something important like characterization. As always don't forget to follow and review. It really helps me out and motivates me. I'm going to break on this one for a while to start a new story so watch my profile/strong. /div 


	5. Chapter 5

Toys for Tots Ch 5

Lindy had no trouble on her walk back through the forest. Apparently she and Flash had defeated the toughest Ariados around. Nothing would dare attack them. Many Pokémon feared the new top of the food chain. However, some revered their savior. One grateful Rattata even brought the duo some berries. This kind gesture was greatly appreciated as Lindy was out of food.

At one point, the group walked by the ashen carcass of the Ariados. The flames had purged the forest if the soft insides, but the harder outer shell of the once feared hunter remained. Parts of the shell were cracked by the flames, but there was a large chunk of the Ariados's abdomen in perfect condition. Lindy knew that a plate such as this was a valued martial for making all sorts of things. She figured she might as well take it.

At evening, Lindy, Flash, and their new Pokémon friend reach the end if the forest. There was still over five hours of walking left. Despite how tired she was, the little ten-year-old persevered and walked through the night. Out of food, out of water, and out of energy, Lindy lumbered into the base. She had just walked for over 14 hours and arrived just before midnight.

With barely enough energy to move, the little ginger walked the last mile to the hospital. She made it to Luke's window and sat down against the wall. She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.

Roselia, not needing to be told, used Aromatherapy both on Lindy and on Luke through his open window. Lindy felt all her aches and pains slowly melt away as all the tension of the day's walk left her body. Had she not had this treatment many times on the long journey home, she would not have made the trek in one day.

Lindy heard Luke's irregular, labored breathing become long and steady. She smiled. With her new healer friend's job done, Lindy closed her eyes as Roselia start the long journey back home.

Lindy fell asleep and slowly slid down the wall and onto her side. Flash, equally tire curled up in the space between her head and legs and followed suit.

"Luck," exclaimed an excited Duke. "I think he will be okay." It was morning of the next day and Duke had stopped by to see his son like he did every morning. He was happy to see Luke sleeping soundly. He was not tossing and turning, breathing heard, or sweating. Luke was going to be okay.

Luck walked over to Luke and started to check his pulse and examine him. Duke knew that he should get out of the way and walked to open window.

"I knew I shouldn't have been worried," he smiled. "In fact I should have been happy knowing that he wouldn't be getting into trouble for a few days." A small tear formed in his left eye, but Duke held it back. He looked down and noticed Lindy sleeping just below him. "Look what I found," he said back to Luck. Duke bent over and pick up that litter girl that, for some reason, was surrounded by flower petals.

"Silly girl," remarked Luck. She could have just slept in his room. "She must have felt guilty because of her involvement."

"Probably," replied Duke. "But still. When her mom came home yesterday morning and couldn't find her. Apparently she wonders off a lot but she wasn't there to greet her mom when she came back." Duke took a blanket and placed it over the sleeping child. "Little Lindy," he whispered, "your mom might get mad, but you really are a good girl." Duke nodded at Luck then left.

Luck was the next to go to the window. He saw the petals and instantly knew what they were. "Stupid girl," he quietly said to himself. "That forest is very dangerous." He paused for a moment and smiled. "But you knew that and went anyway. You are a very loyal friend."

Later that day, Luke opened his eyes once again. He was still weak and out of it. He stretched and looked around. He yawned loudly. So loudly that he woke up Lindy. He did not notice her till she stirred. Then he remembered. He noticed the sting running down his jaw. She was there. She was involved. She broke his sword.

"Hey," he said.

"Oh, Luke, I'm so gla-" she started.

"Get out," Luke interrupted matter-of-factly.

"What?"

"Get out," he came again. "I hate you and never want to see you again." He said the words so causally that he might as well as been talking about the weather. "Get out." He said a third time.

Lindy bowed her head to hide her tears as she walked out of the room. She could not stop the tears, but she did not make a sound. She was utterly crushed that after all she endured that last few days meant absolutely nothing. For years to come, she would continue to be careful around Luke. She would like to consider him a friend, but was never sure if she could.

What she did not know was that Luke was very impulsive and had no filter on his words, especially in his youth. For a child of a famous mercenary, he was very sheltered. He didn't know what it truly meant to hate, or for someone to leave your life forever. All he knew was that there were bad people, his dad made them go away, then came back and had a feast. Luke was aware what death was. He did not, however, know what it was like to lose someone close to you. Lindy did.

Her village was gone. She didn't know how or why-her mother made sure of that-but she knew that all her friends and even her own father were gone for good. She hated the person responsible. She felt so much anger that she became blind with furry when she finally encounter that man who murdered her father. To know that Luke felt that same way about her-even though he didn't- was unbearable. Luke didn't know anything about this. Ya, he didn't start to like her anytime soon but there was never any hatred. Heck, he didn't learn about how Lindy saved his life till after they became friends. It helped that only three other people knew.

Lindy went to the blacksmith in one last attempt to make things right between her and Luke. She still had her Ariados plate and was wondering what it was worth.

"So can you fix it," questioned Lindy holding up Luke's wooden sword.

The blacksmith rubbed his head. He was a big man that went by the name of Aaron. "I don't know," he started. "I suppose that I could meld it back together by putting a rod through it, but I'm really busy with paying work. I suppose that I could try if I had some free time."

"Okay," her disappointment was obvious. She showed her plate. "Is this worth anything?"

"Ohhhhh, yes," Lindy had all of his attention now. "Let me see."

Aaron took the plate and started to twirl it between his fingers. He then held it by the corner and snapped his wrist. The material made a loud snap like a whip as it snapped back into its original shape. Aaron started to smile. Next he slammed the plate onto his shop counter. Is made a loud thump but didn't give at all. At this point Aaron was grinning ear to ear.

"Little lady," he said, "you have some quality pokepart here. Where on earth did you get this."

"Well..." Lindy trailed off.

"By Mew it doesn't matter. Any way do you know the guild policy? No? Well, basically I will make more or less whatever you want then keep the extra. Oh man, the things I could make with this."

Lindy thought about for a second. "I guess I could use a glove."

"Okay, good start. This stuff is perfect for armor. So sword or offhand?"

"Offhand."

"You're still young. Do you want fit now or fit latter?"

Lindy had quite a bit of self-mastery for a ten year old. She knew a fancy glove would fit for about a year. No point in wasting such valuable material on glove that would never be able to be used for its full life. "Fit latter."

"Okay what else?"

"That should be good."

"Wait what," exclaimed Aaron clearly flabbergasted. "You are only using a fraction of the material."

"You can have the rest."

"Little lady," he said very serious, "do you have any idea what this is worth?"

"Ya, probably a little less than two or three Miltank. I have no purpose for money really. Everything here is free."

"Well I couldn't sleep if I took this deal. How about this: I'll fix Luke's sword today and then make you some weapons."

"Okay, sword for me and one for Luke. Fit latter of course."

"Okay what type."

"I'll like a light long sword. I assume Luke will want something heavier."

"If he grows up to be anything like his father then it might as well be a two hand even though he'll only need one to swing it."

"I hope so. That way he can bash people when he forgets to sharpen it."

Aaron erupted with laughter. "It wouldn't be the first time Duke was accused of that. It helps he did a few times over the years too."

Lindy giggles, too. "Can you get Luke's sword before he gets out of the hospital?"

"You got yourself a deal little lady." He stuck out his big hand. Lindy put her little hand in his and shook.

Luke did not like the hospital. He was so bored. There was nothing to do. He had his room. That was it. Heck, he barely had that. He was supposes to stay in bed. The only real thing he had to do was eat. Not doing so for a week was really hard on his body. However, he was strong. What would have left another kid his age barely able to walk just left him hungry.

Luck check up on him from time to time. Roselia had purged the infection but the deep scratch still remained.

By this point it had been two weeks so Luke could move his jaw with little to no pain. He was just hanging out in his little room with only the occasional Geist to keep him company. Luckily for Luke, Luck was on his side. Well kind of. Luck sort of walked into the room while Luke was playing with Geist. Luke was throwing his vegetables at Geist to see if the ghost would let the food pass through his body unharmed or destroy it with its toxic vapors. He seemed to have much joy in eating broccoli, much to Luke's happiness.

"Okay," said Luck, "get out."

"What?" questioned Luke.

"This is a hospital not a daycare," he replied with the annoyance clear in his tone. "I want you out. Now."

"Thanks, doc," cried Luke very excited.

"Ya, just don't come back for a reaaaaaaaally long time."

"No promises!"

Luke can out of the room with Geist in tow. "Okay little Duke," Luck whispered to himself. He smiled as he wondered how long Duke's son could go without hurting himself again.

It felt great to finally be home. Luke walked into the house at lunch time so both of his parents were home. Leo was so excited to see him that he talked him to the ground and started locking his face. Both his parents smiled.

"So, Luke," started Duke, "old Luck finally decided to let out go ramped out on the streets again?"

"Ya. I think I was bothering him. He told me he doesn't want to come back."

"I think you mean he doesn't want to get hurt again," corrected his mother.

"No he said that he ran a hospital not a daycare. I'll just have to stay here the next time I get hurt."

Duke picked up his son and flipped him upside down. "Don't know if we can handle that," he said jokingly. "Maybe I should just drop you know and put you out of your misery."

"No, no," screamed Luke.

"No we could not handle it," said Duke. "I'll guess I'll just have drop you know." Duke raised his son above his head the dropped him. He caught him by the ankles just before he hit the ground.

"Honestly, Honey," started Annie, "the boy just got back from the hospital. You could stand to be a bit gentler."

"Yes but when I visited him, I wasn't even allowed to touch him."

"Because Luck was smart enough to know what would happen if you did. I'm surprised you've never broken any of Luke's bones."

Duke set Luke down. "Oh you know just how _gentle_ I can be," replied Duke with a dirty grin.

Annie did not crack a smile.

With all the childish antics over for the day-or at least for lunch-the family gathered round the table and enjoyed their first meal together in a while. Things had picked up right where they left off. That was they lifestyle of mercenaries. You are missed when you are gone, but life was simple in between jobs and could be joined by anyone in a heartbeat: returning or just joined, champion or rookie.

After lunch, Luke was informed that he had a gift waiting for him in his room. Lying on his bed was his sword. Aaron had kept his word and fixed it before Luke got home. His repair was solid. He fitted an iron rod through the whole thing and had another small piece that melted into the crack of the blade. Luke was very pleased with the fix. Weight had been added and now there was a sweet spit in the middle to do more damage.

Relived to have his own bed back, Luke jumped onto the bed and landed on his back. His bed must have been a lot harder than he remembered because it actually hurt to land on. Luke opened the window next to his bed. Upon farther inspection, he found the sword.

He could not keep it together. He lost it. He yelled in pure joy. It was a pure black blade. Made out of Aggron iron.

It was a heavy set blade about a yard long and just under two inches thick. There was no metal in the center of the blade. This decreased weight and added a bit of flex when rebounded off targets. It also made it look sick. The hilt was made of Aggron steel (the white part of an Aggron) and the grip would be just long enough to hold with two hands. For most it would be a small two hand sword, but for Duke, and one day Luke, it would be used primarily in one.

Duke burst into the room. "Is everything all right?" he questioned frantically. He saw the sword. Fear shot into his eyes. Yes he knew that he was taking things overboard, but his house was full of nice things. _Breakable_ nice things. What do kids do with new toys? They go crazy with them. With Luke swing a sword around, it was not a matter of if he would break anything, but how much.

"Code red," Duke yelled to Annie. "Get in here now!"

Annie burst into the room. She looked around frantically but all she saw was Duke penning Luke against a wall.

"Duke," Annie sighed, "I thought I said to stop."

"Careful," he replied. "The boy is armed." He jerked his head towards the bed.

Annie went over to the bed and picked up the sword. "Honestly?"

"Would you trust me at ten to have a sword?"

"Point taken. Luke you can have this once you turn 21."

Luke whined. After she left to the room, Duke whispered, "Don't worry. I'm sure that you can have it back as soon you can swing it. With full control."

Only Aaron and Lindy knew where the sword came from. Luke would treasure it for the rest of his life, even though he didn't get to use it for a few years.

Luke and Lindy didn't make up. While Luke did not like Lindy, he didn't hate her. He viewed her as annoying. He would put just the tiniest bit of effort to avoid her, but Lindy noticed none the less. She was certain that Luke hated her and did her best to avoid him for his sake. And thus they didn't really get to know each other very well, or at least Luke didn't. Lindy still wished they could be friends kept tabs on him. Little did she know that had she interacted with him more they could have been best friends.

Not much happened over the next few years. Luke trained every day. Finally, when he was thirteen, it paid off. He could swing his sword with control. He was barely a teen, so he had to hold it with two hands. Never the less, he was clearly Duke's son. Not many kids could handle the big sword like he could.

Now that Luke had a real sword, he could train with everyone else, or at least in the same part of the training field. It was there that he started paying more attention to Lindy. Lindy had a real sword since she came. This made Luke very jealous. The presence of Flashed made him more so.

Flash made Lindy special. This was the time before pokeballs so to have a partner, you had to befriend it. There were only four people on the base to successfully do so. One, of course, was Lindy herself. Duke and Annie were included too. The last was some old guy that had a Furfou. And Blake and Geist were never far apart.

Little was known about Pokémon back then. Some were cute, some were scary, but all of them were deadly. People would full on avoid tall grass from fear of disturbing what was hiding within.

Pokémon were known to attack just about anything that came to close to them, especially humans. Many found them extremely violent a cruel. Anyone that had encounter a tamed Pokémon would tell you otherwise, but there wasn't many of them.

Now that Luke had a sword, he didn't really fear Pokémon anymore. On solid whack and they would leave him alone. After Lindy had saved him-which he still had no idea about-she started venturing into the nearby woods and even Mt Silver. With Flash by her side, she, also, had nothing to fear. Given she never encounter a Tyranitar, but still.

As brutish as Luke appeared, he was very smart. He wanted a Pokémon. He saw the value-but he would never admit to it-from watching Lindy. So he followed her lead and also started to explore the world around him.

He was surprised at how safe it actually was. The common birds and Rattata seemed to be afraid of him. Bugs were bolder, but they were push overs. They were really just huge glorified worms. If Luke were to step one, its brain would probably burst out of its head, not the Luke was cruel enough to try.

Basic Pokémon were nothing to fear. After all, they were only kids and kids lose to teens with swords.

Luke was fascinated will all the unique Pokémon around him. He started taking a field journal with him and documenting his finds. It was rather basic, but his drawings where good and he got the correct names for them all. He even did a fair job at guessing the types.

Luke was having so much time that he almost forgot why he started coming. He had befriended a Nidoran female, but only with so berries. She wouldn't approach him if he didn't have any food in his hand. Plus, Nidorans were common. Luke wanted something more unique.

It may have taken a few months to find his partner, but Luke new the little black soldier would be his the moment he saw him. He named him Commander. It would be a fitting name once he evolved.


	6. Chapter 6

**Man I really need to be better at posting chapters after I finish them. It has been a while since I updated this story, but with my new work schedule I should totally be able to get one chapter a month, more depending on how long I make them. If you think that shorter more frequent updates are better than longer ones, feel free to leave a review and tell me about it.**

Chapter 6 Armored Friends

"Wow," said Zane. "Looking swull, Luke. How old are you now?"

Luke relaxed his stance. He had been beating the crap out of a dummy for the better part of an hour now. It was human shaped sandbag. Was. He managed to punch the head off. And an arm. He literally beat most of the sand out of it.

"Not quite fourteen," he proudly stated.

"Wow," replied Zane. "I swear, just the other day you were some winy ten year old that couldn't even win a fight against Lindy, but now you are huge."

Luke lifted an arm and flexed. He wasn't that buff, but the muscle was clearly there. He was 5 6 and about 160 pounds. He would be a terror once he was 16.

"Wait," Zane started up again as Luke squared up against the dummy. "Didn't you face off against Lindy again yesterday?"

"Yes," groaned Luke taking his first swing.

"Oh really?" he asked in a higher tone. "How did it go?"

Luke pretended to be too into his training to answer.

"Hmm," said Zane trying to bait him. "Luke is training awfully hard today. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fight yesterday. Could it be? Did Luke lose again? Probably. He has never beaten her before. Ever." Then he started laughing.

With that, Luke couldn't take it anymore. With two fluid motions, Luke swung his right arm at the left arm of the dummy. Then he grabbed it. He turned while at the same time ripping the arm off and threw it right at Zane's face. It was a direct hit. It went straight into his mouth. Now it was Luke who was laughing.

That was the typical week for Luke. He would train. Then he would challenge Lindy to something and inevitably lose. He would spend a day sulking while dealing with others-and others meaning mainly Zane-with their snide comments. Then he would spend a few days exploring and looking for Pokémon.

"So tell me," started Zane, transitioning. "How is the journal coming out?"

"Okay I guess. I filled out all the common Pokémon, but. . ."

"The list is small?"

"Pretty much. I've only really seen flying, bug, water and normal types. The only fire types I've ever seen have been Flash and Leo."

"Hey don't feel too down. Normal and water are good eating."

"Leave it to you, always thinking about food."

"I'm a guy. What do you expect? Plus, I'm a chef."

"You just like my guide because it's a shopping list."

"And when have I not paid you well?"

Luke also started snaring for Zane. He didn't really like it. Fishing was one thing. Magikarp were just so derpy. He didn't mind killing them, but some of the land dwellers were much smarted. Except for Stantler. He hated everything about them, but how they tasted. Sentret were good too and were much commoner.

"Anyway," said Zane. "What are you really looking for?"

"A partner."

"Why? So many of those things are pure savage. If it was weak enough for you to handle while you tamed it, it wouldn't be that good of a partner."

"That is why I'm so disappointed that I've haven't seen that any fire types. Leo is small and lovable, but he breathes fire."

"So it's all about finding a good element?"

"Ya."

"Well good luck. I have to leave on an assignment tomorrow and should probably pack. See ya."

Luke went back to punching. He had some new things to think over. Did finding a good Pokémon really depend on something as basic as element? He knew what he was looking for now. He needed an Abra. It was a small Pokémon that spent most of its time sleeping. He had learned more types by watching one once. It is how he distinguished what he now called fighting from normal. If his partner was good at beating fighting/close range opponents, then it would be an ideal partner for a mercenary. For having a little moment of clarity, Luke put in his full effort into a kick. It was enough to break the ropes that suspended the dummy.

"I'm not cleaning this up," he said while checking to see if anyone was watching. He made some basic preparations and head off into the woods.

Luke loved the woods. His parent didn't care that he went here all the time. Once he didn't come home for a week and all they did was send Leo to go bring him home. Not to find him, but to bring him home. He guessed that was just the life style of mercenaries: when people take their time in coming home then give them a reminder.

After spending what amounted to months off base, Luke had little difficulty surviving. Berries were plentiful. He acquired a spike perfect for piecing the thick shells of apricot. They were hollow and filled with juice that was highly nutritious. Most people could not handle pure apricot juice, but Luke had learned to love it. Except pink. It was just way too powerful. Drinking it was like drinking pure high fructose corn syrup. However, Luke got some tips from Zane and learned how to dilute the juice into water. Pink found its way into Luke's diet. Since most apricots were mainly water, a few drops of pink changed them from watered-down to delicious. However, if he was in a group, which happened a couple of time, he sometimes "forgot" to add in the pink. He learned not the do that again with Zane. Zane chucked his apricot at Luke's head so hard that it broke. The apricot, that is.

Anyway, it was a day like any other. Luke enjoyed his stroll through the mountains. He ate berries along the way and watched all the native Pokémon. He kept his eye out for any psychic type, but particularly for an Abra.

Like Lindy, the Pokémon had grown used to Luke's presence. That did not mean they ignored him. In fact, some liked to challenge their strength against him. Luckily for him, the stronger Pokémon were above attacking a lower level opponent-Luke was viewed to be in the low 20s, but with the stats of a Dragonite.

The first Pokémon to step up that day was a Phanphy. Luckily for Luke, he wanted a challenge, not an ambush. He got in Luke's path and beat its trunk on the ground a few times.

"Phanpy Phan," he challenged.

"Welcome, first challenger," Luke responded drawing his sword.

The two squared off for a moment. Luke rarely made the first move, at least with these small duels. He could usually win with an opening assault and that was no fun. The small elephant curled up in a defensive ball. Then he rocketed strait forward at Luke. Luke smiled. They had a fight. This opponent was smart enough to know that he would have more power if he used defense curl first. A less experienced Phanpy would think they could get more power by moving as fast as possible first.

Luke was expecting the attack, even though he was not expecting the combo. He easily hopped over the incoming Pokémon. He then quickly turned around and waited to see how long it would take to get a reaction.

The young Pokémon's reaction time was pretty good. It turned around in about ten feet. Luke got ready to jump again. He ran straight at the rolling Pokémon and hurdled it.

The Phanpy was expecting and easy dodge and started turning around sooner. But because Luke kept moving, there was still over ten feet between them. Once again, the two charged.

This time, Luke called the Phanpy's bluff. He didn't jump; he swung his sword at his speedy opponent. It paid off. The Phanpy was expecting another jump. He started to turn around before Luke reached him in hopes of getting Luke to land on him. Luke slammed the flat of his blade into a practically still Pokémon. It was a risky move. If the little elephant had kept moving, Luke's blade would have bounced off as the Pokémon ran him over. Instead, he sent the small Pokémon into a tree. He quickly dashed over to the blue Pokémon before it could recover and pinned the Phanpy to the ground with his foot. He held him there for a second then stepped off.

"You did better than most," he complemented as he continued walking on, "but I'm still the king." He swung his sword twice then spun it around while sheathing behind his back.

So far, so good. It was already noon and he had only gotten into one fight. He would never forget how tired he felt after a family of Gligar decided they all wanted a chance to beat him. He didn't have any luck with finding a psychic, but he was feeling optimistic.

Luke's optimism paid off. He stumbled across a big mud hole. When he noticed a bunch of yellow pig Pokémon, he knew his search was over. Luke wanted an Abra, but he would settle for a Drowzee. They had more stamina than attack, but that was fine.

Luke hid behind a tree and observed. It was then that it occurred to him that he didn't know how to tame a Pokémon. All he knew was give food. Three of the tapir Pokémon were asleep so Luke figures that food wasn't a good option right then. With nothing better in mind, Luke took out his notebook and stated taking notes.

Two hours later, Luke found a better Pokémon.

There was a snap of a branch. Nobody cared. Sounds happened all the time in a forest. Then there was another. Luke could have sworn that he heard armor clinking. It was then a group of small soldiers burst from the trees into action. They had black and red armor and looked ready for anything. It took a moment for Luke to realize that they were a new species of Pokémon.

The new predators quickly scatter all the Drowzee from their mud hole and cornered one of them against a tree. Just then, a taller Pokémon appeared. He jumped over the line of little Pokémon and faced off against the Drowzee.

One v one, how honorable, thought Luke. Here it comes.

The Drowzee started making some motions with its arm and a dim aura appeared around the challenger. He was completely unfazed. The Drowzee gave a look of pure shock when it realized that it couldn't move its opponent.

"Bisharp," the Pokémon taunted, revealing his name.

Next Drowzee used a psybeam attacks. The psychic energy simply bounced off the Bisharp who at this point has closed the distance. It was over in an instant. He drew back a hand and the blade on it flipped forwards and grew into a massive black blade. The night slash instantly finished the psychic tapper.

With the hunter over, the underlings lined up. "Pawniard, Pawniard," they all chanted. Then they orderly all took a slice of meat to eat.

Holy crap, thought Luke. Psychic is one thing, but immunity to psychic? That was much better. Luke forgot Abra entirely and set his heart on a Pawniard.

He still didn't know how to tame one of them. So Luke continued as before: watching and learning. He learned that the back of Pokémon was like a little band of mercenaries. The Bisharp was clearly the leader. The big guy always finished off pray and always got the first bite. He wasn't much as a leader as he was the alpha. Standing at over twice the height of a Pawniard, it was clear that he only had his position by being the oldest. Luke could only guess, but there seemed to be three generations. At the very least, there were three groups.

There was what Luke assumed were the young guns. They were always sparing-because blade hands-or playing little pranks on the other groups. There seemed to be a leader of this sub group. He was the one that always walked in front, always jumped into a fight first, and always help those that were struggling.

The next group was much milder. Luke assumed they were the young adults. They were the main target for pranks. With things constantly being thrown at them or getting lauded out, they were surprisingly chill. The third group, on the other hand, was not. They crowded around the Bisharp like he was some big shot. Given his power, he actually was. These Pawniard were extremely short tempered. They were so bad that they weren't worth messing with. They must have been friends with the alpha before he became the alpha.

As a whole, the pack got along. They went hunting just about every day. Luke never saw them fail. Luke learned a lot by watching the pack. Pokémon were very hard to kill. The Drowzee was just about the only thing that went down in one hit. He figured that a super effective hit plus a sixty level difference could do it, but anything else took some time. A kill took about five times the damage that a normal knock out would take. Each one got easier as the Pokémon would recover and seal cuts slower and slower, eventually stopping entirely. In contrary, attack rose and rose. The last few attacks of a dying foe will one-shot a heathy Pawniard. For some reason, the Pawniard would faint during a hunt and would rarely enter "lifesaver mode," this was probably because they could only do so if they felt they were in actual danger. The hunts would take two paths. On the first path, the Pawniard would actually battle it out using moves. The second, and more common involved a massive dog piles that took advantage of the multiple blades sprouting from their fronts.

Luke followed the pack for a week. He managed to figure out the patter that the mobile pack took. On the sixth day, he came to a clearing that must have been their base.

Luke was right on the edge of the clearing. It was about three and half of the Pawniard had fallen asleep. He grinned. One should not fall asleep in the middle of day when the rambunctious members of the pack where wide awake. One poor soul was a bit farther from the group then what could be allowed. Using their many blades, some of the Pawniard dug a hole around the separate one. He was safe as long as he didn't move. Of course, that wouldn't be allowed either.

The leader of the group took an apricot and cut in lots of little notches. Then he chucked it at the sleeping Pokémon. The fruit split and released its payload of juice on the now furious Pawniard. As he got up, he lost his footing and fell into the pit.

Luke didn't see what happened next. Leo jumped on top of him and started licking his face.

"Get off, boy," Luke laughed. Luke was okay with leaving for now. He knew where the den was, though it was really only a clearing, and needed some time to think. He still had no idea how to tame a Pawniard. Luckily for Luke, the mercenary base was less than a day away.

So the pair left. Luke had never really traveled with a Pokémon before. It was quite the experience. Pokémon would attack Luke for a challenge, but they attacked Leo because he was invading their territory. What was more; they took no strategy on attacking. Luke could just say one thing: so many Bellsprouts. Sure they were one-shots, but Leo once used so many flame throwers that he ran out of fire. Luke took note and assumed that was a possibility for all moves. He decided to define call this the power point system. Luckily, Leo also know thunder fang.

Leo may have been the same size as Flash, but he held a much more experience appearance. After years of intense training, he was no longer a little cute Growlithe. His fur was rugged; he had a scar over his left eye; he had mohawk. That's right, a mohawk. He was the BAMFest puppy you ever saw.

As to be expected, Leo was an expert hunter. About a mile from the base, he smelled a Stantler. Leo loved Stantler. He barked at Luke and crouched down. Luke got the message and got down on all fours.

The stayed low to the forest floor, creeping bush by bush to the unsuspecting Pokémon. Finally, they got to a large bush. In the clearing on the other side they saw their target.

"Okay Leo," whispered Luke, "game plan. I want you to burst through the bush and use flame wheel to close the distance. Then use flamethrower. Do you still have some juice left?"

Leo barked his confirmation.

"Nice. I know you know what to do so I won't give any more order. Whenever you are ready."

Luke moved back a bit as Leo made his way-silently I might add-through the bush.

Leo waited a few seconds to see if his target had spotted him. When it was clear that he had the element of surprise, the bush erupted in flames and Leo went flying out at the Stantler. Leo hit the moose-deer-thingy right in the chest and knocked it into the air. The force of his follow up flamethrower slammed it down to the ground. Leo kept bathing in in flames as he came back down. Normally, Stantler would have fainted at this point, but it entered lifesaving mode and used its energy to keep fighting rather than healing. The burns all over its body healed only by closing. Angry red patched remained: it was burned and would continue to lose health.

The Stantler knew it was outclassed. It turned and tried to run. Leo didn't need to be told. He clamped down on the back of the fleeing food's neck and started to force powerful electrical shocks into it. Seeing and opportunity to attack, Luke hurdled the bush. In midair, he drew his sword. There was a dark glare from his black blade and he landed on the other side of the conflict.

Everyone paused for a moment.

Then the front legs of the Pokémon gave out and it fell onto its head then its side. Luke had managed a clean slice to its neck. Leo kept pumping electricity into it for a few seconds for good measure then happily walked over to Luke and barked.

"Good boy Leo," he said patting his head, paying little regard to his blood stained face.

Luke then picked up his future dinner and slung it over his back. He managed a good two steps till he realized that the camp was far away.

He sent Leo ahead to get Zane. As Luke dragged the meat towards the base, he reflected on his trip. His notes had greatly expanded. He identified two new types: dark and steel. There were still something that he could not explain, but his knowledge could only grow from this point. Once he tamed himself Pawniard, he would be one step closer to being Lindy's equal.

**Next time: the exiting tale of how Luke gets one of the Pawniard to be his partner. Feel free to leave a review. I know that it takes so much effort to leave one, but they really do help me and motivate to write more. If you like the action, but not the world, feel free to check out my Sword Art Online story. I have the next chapter almost done and should be updating in a few days. **


	7. Chapter 7

so tomorrow I'm leaving for two years to server a LDS Mission in the Philippines. I've been so busy packing and what not that I didn't get to edit this chapter. Like at all. Sun and Moon hipe and all that good stuff-don't judge my spelling and enjoy.

Pokemon 7

"Okay Flash," said Lindy, "let them have it."

Flash opened his little mouth and shot out three fireballs out. The ember slammed into three different training dummies.

"Good job boy," Lindy praises.

Compared to Leo, Flash was still pretty wimpy-give he was on like level seven-so Lindy was doing some special training with him. Flamethrower was a rather powerful move that decimated foes and houses alike. Lindy figured that Flash should be at least able to hit a few targets at the same time. Maybe that would be enough to impress Luke. She let out a sigh.

Oh Luke, she thought. I wonder if he still holds that grudge (referring to their fist training incident, of course) against me. Wonder where he is. He hasn't challenged me in about a week. Should I go easy on him next time? Nah, he wouldn't accept a win against anything except my best. At least it is a reason he interacts with me once a week.

Lindy was not aware that Luke was trying to tame a Pokemon of his own. She didn't really know why he went into the surrounding areas so much. Inner most desires of the soul do not really come up between two people that only communicate to issue challenges. Especially when these two people were huge rival. At least in Luke's mind. Lindy still had a slight crush on him and wanted nothing more to just be his friend.

Lindy let out another sigh. "Again." After all, the dummies weren't going to torch themselves.

Luke was once again following the pack. Over the past month he had only spent three days at home. He felt that he would have some luck soon. The pack would no longer attack him on sight, but he could not get by walking though their camp. It was a start.

At that time, Luke was following the pack on one of there many hunts. This time, they were tracking a Pokemon that Luke was unfamiliar with. The tracks lead them far east, almost off Mt Silver. Based on the size and number of tracks, Luke guess there would be three easy meals.

After about half a day of tracking, three Pokemon were indeed track down. Too late, they learned their targets were out of their league.

The three pokemon were manky. Luke didn't think anything of it; after all, they were relatively weak. One thing that Luke forgot to into account was that Bisharp was four times weak to fighting.

Back to the point, the leader pawnard was holding a manky at blade point. It was not in the slightest bit scared, in fact rage flashed in its eyes. The manky blindly charged its opponent. Being faster, the pawnard opened up with a slash. The cut was deep. Good damage. Before the cut even closed, the manky used scratch. It was knocked way back by a ironhead counter. It was about this point that crap hit the fan with a loud ding.

Another pawnard was critically injured. He took a nasty karate chop right to the head. Luke knew that it meant bad news when the dent showed no sign of healing.

The leader pawnard left his opponent to back up his buddy. He charged in with night slash ready. Unfortunately, he had not yet realized that a fighting type like manky resisted dark moves. The nasty cut to the head might as well have bounced off.

The two squared off. Luke was on the edge of his metaphorical seat as he waited to see who would make the next move.

The manky went first with a low kick. Pawnard is not a particularly heavy pokemon, but he fell straight down into the dirt. He slowly picked himself up into his knees. Next, the pawnard lifted his left arm. It started to glow for a second then he let out a psycocut. The fur ball was too busy laughing to notice the incoming attack. The energy wave sent the small piggish mon rolling.

Short tempered, as all manky are, the Pokemon became enraged. Letting completely go of self control, the manky started to use thrash. Pawnard wasn't afraid of some normal attack and didn't backdown from the onslaught. Using the blades on his chest and arms, pawnard put small cuts all over the manky. Then he buried the blade on his head into the manky with such forced that it flinched and was thrown back.

Luke got a good look at the manky. It was really starting to get thrashed. It's fur was all on end. The little cuts all over its body were turning its tan fur red rather then closing. The cut left by the iron head left a deep gash right on its left ear. The major type advantage that it head was not enough to overcome the difference in skill and strength.

Not know what else to do, the manky used screech. Pawnard was visibly shaken as it defense harshly fell. But to Luke's surprise, it seemed to get stronger. The pair charged one final time to end it all. Pawnard let out a double psycocut when they were still about ten feet away so the manky had time to jump out of the way. It landed on on pawnard and used karate chop on his left arm. It jumped into the air leaving pawnard's arm at an awkward angle. The manky started to spin as it started to dive bomb the crippled steal type. One final attack aught to do him in. Too bad the same was true for the manky itself. Pawnard used one more desperate psycocut as the manky as it was only a foot above him.

At such close range, the attack knocked the manky back into the air. The limp body practically floated down on pawnard's extended arm. The blade went in one side an out the other.

After a second or two all the pain and exhaustion caught up to pawnard and he fell to his knees. His arm was still bent in a way that it should not be. He was covered in dents. He just knelt there taking deep breaths. However, the big boss Bisharp was not happy with him. He always demanded to get the kills, but here was pawnard next to a dead pokemon. On top of that, he used moves that the Bisharp could not, another thing the egotistical leader hated. It was enough to set him off. Without warning, he sucker punched pawnard in the back. Then he used lowsweep on pawnard's head.

Leaving pawnard in the dust, Bisharp commanded the pack to move on with taking a bite of the fresh meat. He also made threatening motions to anyone that would dare to make any moves towards their fallen comrade.

Luke watched stunned. Pawnard had a glorious victory and was treated like he was the cause of a grievous defeat. Luke waited a bit to make sure the pack had left then rushed to his aide. Cradling pawnard in his arms, Luke pulled a few Orin berries out of his bag and fed them to the injured pokemon. Pawnard managed to keep the food down and seemed to relax a little; Luke felt it was safe to carry the brave soldier back to base. He was forced to walk to avoid jostling pawnard, so it took Luke the rest of the day to get home.

Lindy was just wrapping up with the days training with the sun low in the sky.

"Good work today," she encouraged. She bent down and patted Flash's head. After a long day, he was able to consistently hit two targets with one ember. Three was doable, but not mastered. He had only hit four targets at the same time once, so that was his new goal.

"Just wait till Luke gets back. He might be actually impressed by you now." Luke was not always the nicest to Flash, not to say he didn't treat Lindy any differently.

Lindy saw a figure walking over the horizon and decided to greet them. As she suspected, it was Luke.

"Hey Luke-" she cut off as she noticed the still unconscious pokemon, "is he all right?"

"I don't know," came an even response. "Go get Luck."

A few minutes latter pawnard was in a hospital bed. Luck had just finished examining him.

"What do you expect me to do," he asked he asked starchily. "I'm a doctor, not a vet. Not to mention I can't operate on a patient made of metal. Your better off taking it to the blacksmith now. That's where it's going to end up anyway."

Luke thought that was not that bad of an idea, though not in the way Luck suggested. He gently picked pawnard back up and carried him to Aaron. Along the way, Luke and Lindy were joined by Blake.

"Yo Aaron," Luke called over the roar of the forge. "We have a top priority job for you."

Aaron put down the project he was working on and walked over to the teens.

"What cha got there," he said when he noticed pawnard. "Well, I'll be. The whole pokemon. I can make some mighty nice things out of that." Pawnard weakly raised a blade hand in defense. "Still some fight left in this one."

"Because this is my new partner," said Luke.

Aaron saw Flash and Geist and then made the connection. "Kids and their crazy fads, such a loss of good material," he grumbled under his breath. "Anyway, what can I do for you folks. Does this new pet have a name?"

"Ya his name is," Luke paused for a second. "Commander. He took quite a beating, but he is made of metal. Luck can't do anything, but I thought you could maybe reforge him a bit. His left arm is broken too."

"Let me see him"

Luke held Commander over the counter for Aaron to inspect. He took off a glove and felt the pokemon all around. After some inspecting he said.

"He is covered in about two inch thick organic steel. The blades that protrude from his body are like horn, no feeling and ever growing. The metal in his arm is flexible and the bone underneath is broken. I could probably straighten all his blades on him with no pain or hassle. His arm is another story. Want to get started now?"

Luke looked at his new partner. He was still dazed, but the fire in his eyes made it look like he agreed and understand. "Yes"

Aaron took Commander to his anvil and got to work. After an hour or so he was done.

Commander came out a lot prettier then he went in. Aaron straighten out his arm and chest blades plus he gave Commander a nice full body polish. Sadly, Aaron could do much for the broken arm or the head blade. A sling would suffice. Some of the dents were still there, but those would heal quickly once Commander got some rest. Boy, did he need some rest. He had slept some while Luke carried him, but he was clearly exhausted.

Luke took him straight home to get some well deserved rest. Afterwards, he went to go pick some berries. Blake went off to do whatever he does, but Lindy stayed to help out.

"Hey, Luke," said Lindy as Luke climbed up a big tree.

"What," he was paying more attention to climbing than to her.

"What happened today?"

"I finally found a pokemon worthy of joining me."

"You just stumbled on Commander all beat up and decided that you wanted him to join you?"

"Nah, I had been watching his pack for weeks. He was one of the alphas, a real leader among the pawnards."

"Oh, tell me more."

Luke told Lindy about his last month; anything from practical jokes to hunts to general behavior. By the time Luke told her about the final hunt it was already dark outside. They had filled two baskets full or berries and were sitting under a tree together.

"He sounds very brave," said Lindy after Luke finished.

"Ya," it was so dark that he could only tell where she was based on her voice. "Too back his leader was such a jerk. Nearly killed him when he saved the life of another. I wish I was a strong as my dad. I would have taken him on."

"Ya, your dad is very noble like that." Duke took two kinds of jobs. The high paying kind and the save a village from a problem kind. "I hope you can live up to his legacy."

Luke let out a little snicker. "In my dreams. But ya, I look up to him more than anything. The way I see it, I'll be on par with a Bisharp and he will stay the Agron knight."

"They are both steel types. Maybe Bisharp will end up as the stronger of the two. You have only seen one so far."

Luke laughed again. "Ya imagine that."

"It's getting late. We should probably head back. Flash."

The little pokemon ignited his back and brought back the light. Luke covered his eyes and turned away.

"Whoa," he yelled as he noticed Lindy do the same... A mere three inches away. He knew that Lindy was close due to the sound of her voice, but he had now idea that she kept moving closer and closer under the cover of the night.

"Oh, sorry," her face was as Flash's flame.

Lindy walked home with Luke so he wouldn't have to walk home in the dark.

After Lindy left for her own house she let out a long sigh. Luke is so nice, She thought. Choosing a partner that fights for others. He fights for his friends. I hope he considers me his friend. He wasn't acting like he hated me today. I wonder. Did he get a pokemon to be like me? Blake has one too so maybe not. Maybe he is trying to be like his dad. I hope we can become friends with this. We can train our pokemon together. That was we can compete without actually fighting.

"Mission report," stated the army commander.

"Not even a hello?" Replied the mercenary.

"Get on with it, Jones."

"We were attacked. One assassin: a kid really. He was a hater."

"Snee," his partner confirmed.

"He must have know we were coming."

"What do you make of it?" questioned the commander.

"No kid would be able to track me undetected. He must have been a new recruit for one of those blasted hater cells."

"Anyway, how did the Phoenix Priest feel about the incident?"

"As to be expected, he was unhappy with the death. He understands its necessity, but he hates it."

"As to be expected. Dismissed."

Jones left the commander's tent and headed towards his own. What had he gotten himself into? The Phoenix Priest seemed nice enough when he took him on as a bodyguard. Why did he have to be a leader of a revolution? Apparently he was the choose one of some fire turkey. He knew that it was possible to understand a pokemon that you spent enough time with. His sneezel had been his battle brother for years and he understood the pokemon's tongue as well as his own. He still found it doubtful that someone could pickup the language so fast. Not that it mattered: the priest called for a revolutionary change in society. A world where pokemon and people lived side by side and helped each other as equals.

Jones, of course, saw the value, but he was unsure why anyone that wasn't a fighter would want such a destructive friend. At least he didn't stick out in camp. Most people in the camp had a pokemon partner. His was one of the most powerful-which gave him great respect-but no one gave him a second look like he often got in other towns. He guessed it didn't help that his sneezel liked to ride on his shoulder.

Yes, these were changing times. Conflict was imitate. The pokéhaters were gaining followers by the day. The Priest's forces were going equally as fast. Once both numbered in the tens of thousands, both sides would be impossible to control. It was only a matter of time before someone would cross a line that would lead to war. Only a matter of time.


End file.
